Eschatology (pt 2)...

Currently ReadingThe Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation
By Barbara R. Rossing

war...famine...disease...poverty...but at least Christians don't have to go through all of that...right?

so like i stated, i finished the book listed above and i believe it's a great piece...i'm thankful to God cuz honestly, this book starts where my terminology left off last week...i couldn't articulate the inner anguish that i was feeling with the whole idea that Christians would be "raptured" away from earth while everyone else endures hardships...indeed, it made no sense to me (in my finite understanding of an infinite God) to punish all of humanity for seven years....then judge everyone and send them to hell...the Left Behind series of books is troubling to me for this very reason...

christians that believe in dispensationalism believe that there are seven stages to the timetable of God...and that we are living in the sixth dispensation...the seventh beginning when the church (christians) are raptured and the all hell breaks loose on earth, literally...

so the book of Revelation is often disregarded by many as spooky or scary...i've been going to church my entire life and have VERY rarely heard a message preached out of that particular letter that John wrote...people tend not to read it because it seemingly documents the end of the world as we know it...and the end of humanity and and evil...
i once believed (because it was what i was taught)...

that Jesus in Revelation would be vengeful...that this Jesus is much different from the Lamb of God that came to take away the sins of the world (not just christians...but the world...)...i thus believed that saved folks (those that are born again) would be raptured at some unknown time but very soon ... no one knows the time that this rapture would take place but we were supposed to live in readiness...this is why it is so important to be saved in the first place - not to enter into relationship with deity as much as it is important to be raptured and thus, saved from being left behind and ultimately hell...

after the church would be raptured, unrelenting disease, war, poverty, natural disasters, et al would be the resultant...it would be havoc for anyone left behind...

then the vengeful Christ will come and battle all that are left behind and satan...then close the chapter of time and begin eternity - only those that were "saved" being invited to go to heaven...but this story didn't bode well with the biblical Christ...

the Christ of compassion...the Christ that was the sacrifice forever...made no sense to sacrifice folks in place of Christ when Christ was already sacrificed...

so then comes this book...

which basically articulated what my heart felt but couldn't speak forth...the book is really an interesting and accessible read...it isn't filled with overflowing theological terminology (although she'd be quite able to handle such an undertaking)...it is a simple look at what Dispensationalists believe and how Revelation should be interpreted...

Preface

the preface opens the book wherein Rossing introduces the reader to the topics she will discuss...she gives a short background on dispensationalism, rapturism (my word) and then a broad picture of the true story of Revelation...

Chapter 1: The Destructive Racket of Rapture

in this chapter Rossing describes in much detail exactly what rapture theology is about...she discusses how "the Rapture voyeuristically glorifies violence and war..." and rightly so. rapturist theology influences much public policy in the US and wrongly so...many Christian evangelicals (and literalists) take a view that they must somehow advance the coming of Christ...

and with that, you have the conflict in the Middle East...Christian Zionism (Christians in the US and other nations fighting for Israel to regain the original borders of the nation of Israel in the Middle East...but these Christians are not doing so because of caring for the Jews as much as they are setting up the stage for the rapture to occur, so they believe)...the degredation of our environment is another consequence of rapture theology...when one believes that they don't have to preserve the earth because it will soon be destroyed, there is little that they will do to enhance the earth...this is why environmentalists are seen as "liberal nuts" in many circles...why preserve the earth when God is going to get rid of it anyway? so we have ozone depletion, global warming, melting of polar ice caps, etc...

all because a sect of Christianity believes they will be raptured into heaven...so there is no responsibility here...we (as Christians) can do whatever we want to the earth because Jesus is going to take us back to heaven - and SOON (Israel became a nation State in 1948...so the story goes, Jesus must be on his way back any minute now, literally)...
Rossing rightly points out, as I will expound later, that God came and dwelt on THIS earth as Jesus...and will set up his kingdom on THIS earth (not another one; not in "heaven")...

"Whatever future events await the earth, the biblical message is that God comes down to earth to live on it with us"...
this is the claim she makes for Revelation and it is a very well-organized claim, biblically...

Chapter 2: The Invention of the Rapture

In this chapter, Rossing discusses that the rapture theology is actually a relatively new train of thought in Christian communities, dating back approximately 170 years and founded by John Darby, a European preacher...still, there are few biblical precedents that actually assert a rapture will ever take place...so much of Christianity today place their beliefs on the foundations of 170 years ago instead of biblical truth...interestingly, folks in biblical days took none of the biblical messages to mean what we have interpreted them to be contemporarily...

and i remember when i was a kid...whenever my parents would be home late from work, i would wonder and often panic that they were raptured and i missed it...it is truly a scary but effective tactic to get folks to "get saved"...i knew i didn't want to be left here for all of the hell that would break loose, but i knew that i constantly struggled with sin in my life (and still do...as we all do)...but pentecostalism (what i grew up in) espouses that we must be "ready" at all times for Christ's rapture...so we cannot sin (even though this idea goes against biblical teaching...)
i just don't think Christ ever wanted anyone to be scared into believing in him...

Chapter 3: The Rapture Script for the Middle East

I discussed this chapter a bit earlier...but pretty much, Christians must work in order to have the Middle East set up the way they believe it has to be set for Christ to rapture the church and ultimately, destroy the earth (instead of healing it...)

the Jewish Temple must be rebuilt in the Middle East...but currently, the site for where the Jewish Temple must be built is the site for the Muslim Dome of the Rock...so, here we have a religious and political battle for control of the piece of land...dispensationalist christians try to assist the Jews that wish to control that land (Christian Zionism) and call Islam a work of evil laregly cuz of this...

Even Palestinian Christians are being forced out of their homes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, etc, by CHRISTIANS ... but these Christians are trying to force ANYONE out of the area that isn't a Jew cuz they wish to advance the rapture...

and this is all prompted by the Prince of Peace? that makes NO sense to me...

Chapters 4-11 (cuz a brutha is tired from typing...lol)

It is within these chapters that Rossing really gets down and discusses what she believes Revelation to be about...she likens the book to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol story where Scrooge is taken around by three ghosts to show him his past, present and future...but the future of Scrooge could be thrwarted if he changed his behavior in the present...the Ghost of Christmas Present presented Scrooge with a look into how his future would be if he continued in the same way...

and thus, the book of Revelation is also a biting criticism of current practices...when John wrote the letter, he wrote to Christians that were persecuted under Roman rule...he posits the readers of the letter as "victors" (greek word nike) as a intersting juxtaposition against the then-contemporary imagery of Rome as the goddess Nike ... pretty much, John discusses evil and good victors...and shows that the good victor wins out in the end...this was a message to the Christians in Ephesus to keep courage and move forward, even in the face of oppression because surely, God will be with them...

the four horses of poverty, disease, war and famine were all very real images to the folks John wrote to, particularly because they were oppressed as Christians...

the most powerful chapter is 7: Nonviolence Conquering in Revelation

in this chapter, she discusses how Roman rule of the exerted power by means of control and violence but that the Christians should return violence with nonviolence (sounds just like the Civil Rights Movement, right?)...the fact is that Christ never fights in Revelation but is likened to a slaughtered lamb...it is, in fact, the sacrifice of Christ that he made 2000 years AGO that will conquer the enemy...because when Christ was slaughtered, he returned it with nonviolence...as well, the saints referenced in Revelation "overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony..." - no mention of war, money or power...but dispensationalists would have us believe that the only way to conquer evil is with these very tenets which Christ refuses to use....

i will close with this...

we all know the "Lord's Prayer..."...in it, we say "thy kindgom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven " ... interestingly, we are not encouraged to pray that we get away from this earth, but rather that healing, power and love take place on this earth...

interestingly, i think by this rapture theology, much of what people think will happen will happen...but not because of Christ but because people think it's supposed to happen and they will stop at nothing in order to see that it does happen...this is crazy, particularly for Christians to think that they (we) can help God's plan to move along...it is egotistical and cynical that would allow one group to think they can push God to do something...

our president believes this theology...therefore, he thinks the war in Iraq (as do many fundamentalists) is just setting the stage for the imminent return of Christ...we can drive SUVs that are environmentally toxic...we can pollute water...we can kill all non-Christians/non-Jews (i.e., Muslims) because they are of no real consequence...we are all pawns in the story of Christ's vengence...

but the more we kill, the less we advance the cause of Christ, regardless of how "christian" we think we are behaving...we should be for peace - peace with the earth and with our fellow sisters and brothers...God is not seeking violence to vindicate Godself...God is seeking those that will love in the midst of adversity...those that will stand strong and refuse to kill others or the earth...

that is Revelation...